6/17/11 Oahe Damn and Toad (LeAnn)

We left early from Sugar Bear's house. Stopped at the grocery store to restock on food, then headed up to check out the Oahe Damn five miles up and five miles back, but completely worth the detour if you check out the video clip we posted you'll understand. The damn was said to be releasing more water per second than Niagara Falls and had all of its release valves wide open. It was amazing to see how much power water can have.

After seeing the damn, we headed uphill out of the city, west toward Hayes. The hills were the biggest we've biked through yet and again there was nothing but fields and pastures as far as the eye could see. Our new philosophy: bike until we find the perfect spot to set up camp. It's worked perfectly every time so far. So we biked until sunset again and came to one lonely roadside park in the middle of nowhere, right before the town of Hayes.

Ben and I set up camp and began to brush our teeth in the tent. A middle aged woman and her son pulled up in the parking lot to use the restrooms. We continued brushing our teeth and patiently waited for the people to leave so we could get out of the tent to spit. But they took their time, the woman talked on her phone as the boy (about 6 years old) played with something. It wasn't long before I realized what that something was he was kicking at. In the glow of the one street light that shone down on the sidewalk I saw something hop. We were just close enough for me to see the small hop of the toad and to realize what it was. The boy continued kicking at it and alternated small snickered evil boughts of laughter with picking up the toad and kicking him again. Finally, the mom hollered for the boy to come so they could leave and and the boy threw the toad onto the sidewalk with a splat. I write this in memory of a great beautiful American Toad whose life was taken, but not in vain, for Ben and I decided from that moment on that we would fight for toads across the world and never let our mouths stay closed again, even when they are filled with toothpaste.